What is a bitcoin and how does it work?

Bitcoin is a digital asset that was introduced to the world in 2009 which leverages a peer-to-peer network to facilitate the transfer of value without the intermediation of banks or central authority.

Where do they come from?

Bitcoins are born through the mining and validation of transactions on the blockchain, which is a ledger to which everyone in the world has access and we can see even the first transaction that has been made with this currency. The people who are in charge of this procedure are known in the world as miners.

When miners successfully verify a set of transactions, they are awarded several bitcoins, currently, they get 12.5 bitcoins for each completed transaction but this number decreases with each halving, which usually occurs every 4 years.

The miners follow a set of cryptographic rules that keep the network stable, safe and secure.

Does it has a limit?

Currently, there are approximately 17 million bitcoins mined of which there is a maximum number which is 21 million. But not to worry as this number will not be achieved until around the year 2140, so we will have bitcoin for quite a while.

How can I get bitcoin?

Outside of mining, there are several ways in which we can get bitcoins. By exchanging with other people or through various exchange platforms such as Binance. Our assets will want to be stored in a wallet, in the case of the exchange platforms they are stored in the wallets that they give you but there are also thousands of wallets that you can use, metamask is one of the most popular.

What are its uses?

Currently, bitcoins can be used as a payment method for goods and services, but the commercial use of bitcoin is still growing. But we can also use it for trading, selling it, or buying it in exchange for fiat money like the US dollar.

Bitcoin is the most liquid cryptocurrency and we expect it to become more and more common in society, adopted in the future as a currency like a dollar or a euro.